When managing computer network security, network administrators often face the difficulty of setting up the security software being installed on various devices. Solving this problem becomes especially important when deploying software (for example, an antivirus or access control systems) at large companies or in local area networks where the configurations of the devices connected to the network are significantly different from one another.
Another factor complicating the installation process of new software is the diversity of the user groups who have different access rights to the resources of an enterprise private network (EPN). The distributed infrastructure of EPNs often involves the use of various security policies, depending on the device, the network segment, and the user. It is impossible to consider all the above factors when installing software on network devices using the existing technical solutions.
The ongoing development of computer equipment increases the complexity of not only infrastructure, but also of security applications. A typical user is unable to optimally configure a security application due to lack of expertise and to company policies that aim to increase the level of security.
In general, remote administration tools are used to manage remote work stations (e.g., user devices). This allows administrators to set up security tools after their installation on desktop or notebook computer systems or on corporate devices with an installed administration agent. However, administration agents cannot be installed on all computer systems. In today's world, there is a trend of increasing presence of personal devices that have no installed administration tools. Such devices include, for example, smartphones, tablet computers, netbooks and other portable devices, which the users utilize for work and oftentimes also for personal purposes. For secure operation on a enterprise private network, the installation of security tools and the subsequent setup of such tools must be performed on the user's side.
More generally, there is a need for an effective and efficient solution for automatically configuring software for installation on user devices that operate on a computer network subject to various security policies.